October 29, 2007
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** DAILY READINGS:
First Reading:
Rom 8:12-17
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/reading.php?n=2390
Psalm:
Ps 68:2 and 4,6-7ab,20-21
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/reading.php?n=2391
Gospel:
Lk 13:10-17
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/reading.php?n=2392
** SAINT OF THE DAY:
Blessed Mary Restituta Kafka
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=639
** TOP STORIES:
- Pope Benedict challenges pharmacists to refuse to dispense abortion pill
- Holy Father's Angelus on martyrdom in everyday life
** MORE HEADLINES
- Pope writes to new director of L'Osservatore Romano
- Consistory for creating new cardinals scheduled
- Brazil urgently needs political reform, says head of bishops' conference
- Church in Brazil reiterates desire to host WYD
- New archbishop installed in Russia
- Woman faces execution for murdering mother, kidnapping unborn child
- Priest with secret marriage pleas guilty to half-million-dollar embezzlement
- Future cardinals thank Holy Father for remembering Africa
- Love letter from prison proof of martyrdom of Spanish youth
- Rio de Janeiro governor promotes legalization of abortion to reduce number of criminals
- Ecuador: new constitution and religious freedom
- Statistician refutes Planned Parenthood report
- Prime Minister of Iceland meets with Vatican officials
- Do not become attracted by a permissive consumer society, Pope Benedict warns people of Gabon
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TOP STORIES
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Pope Benedict challenges pharmacists to refuse to dispense abortion pill
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10813)
VATICAN CITY, October 29 (CNA) - An international gathering of Catholic pharmacists was received by Pope Benedict today at the Vatican. In his talk with them, the Holy Father insisted that health professionals must be allowed the right to exercise conscientious objection when it comes to dispensing drugs that cause abortion or euthanasia— words that are sure to impact the debate about the abortion pill in the U.S.
The Pope reminded the pharmacists that protecting human life from conception until natural death is part of their job. Benedict also encouraged them "to reflect upon the ever broader functions they are called to undertake, especially as intermediaries between doctor and patient," and upon their role in educating patients "in the correct use of medications" and in informing them of "the ethical implications of the use of particular drugs."
"It is not possible to anesthetize the conscience, for example, when it comes to molecules whose aim is to stop an embryo implanting or to cut short someone's life," the Pope said. He also warned the pharmacists against using people for experiments in ways that don't respect ethical standards.
Pope Benedict's words on the use of abortifacient pills come as debate on the use of the Plan-B pill (which according to its manufacturer can result in a chemical abortion in some cases) for rape victims has become quite heated in the U.S.
At the end of September, the Catholic Bishops of Connecticut decided to allow the administration of Plan B to rape victims at Catholic hospitals. They cited the scientific uncertainty of whether or not Plan B can cause a chemical abortion and the new state law prohibiting hospitals, regardless of their religious affiliation or beliefs, from refusing to dispense the drug. CNA coverage here and here.
The Pope told the international gathering that individual pharmacists could always choose not to prescribe such a drug.
"I invite your federation to consider conscientious objection which is a right that must be recognized for your profession so you can avoid collaborating, directly or indirectly, in the supply of products which have clearly immoral aims, for example abortion or euthanasia," he said.
It is also important, the Pope proceeded, that pharmaceutical organizations practice "solidarity in the therapeutic field so as to enable people of all social classes and all countries, especially the poorest, to have access to vital medicines and assistance."
"The biomedical sciences are at the service of man," the Pope concluded. "Were it otherwise they would be cold and inhuman. All scientific knowledge in the field of healthcare ... is at the service of sick human beings, considered in their entirety, who must have an active role in their cure and whose autonomy must be respected."
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Holy Father's Angelus on martyrdom in everyday life
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10810)
CASTEL GANDOLFO, October 28 (CNA) - After the beatification of 498 Spanish martyrs today in St. Peter's square, the pope addressed the people in his weekly Angelus reminding them that martyrdom is not only asked of a specific few.
"Martyrdom is not an exception reserved only to a few individuals, but realistic eventuality for the whole Christian people."
The Holy Father continued, "Those who have given the supreme witness of their blood have been men and women, young and old, from all walks of life and every position of social standing."
We are all called to participate in the building of God's kingdom, however "not everyone is called to face a cruel martyrdom."
He recalled Blessed Celina Chludzinska Borzecka. Her life "as a wife, mother, widow and religious founder, is an example of another kind of martyrdom, perhaps not cruel though no less important. This other kind of martyrdom is a silent witness of so many Christians who live the Gospel without compromise."
"This martyrdom in ordinary life constitutes a testimony more important now than ever in the secularized societies of our time."
"It is a peaceful battle of love that every Christian, like St. Paul must wage tirelessly. It is the race to spread the Gospel to which we are committed even unto death."
The pope concluded by asking the intercession of our Blessed Mother, "May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Martyrs and Scholar of Evangelization assist us in our daily witness."
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MORE HEADLINES
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Pope writes to new director of L'Osservatore Romano
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10811)
VATICAN CITY, October 29 (CNA) - Benedict XVI has written a letter to Giovanni Maria Vian for the occasion of his appointment as director of "L'Osservatore Romano," a role, the Pope writes, that is "of great responsibility because of the particular nature of the Vatican newspaper."
The Pope praises the new director's "profound cultural formation as a historian of Christianity" and his "knowledge of the history of the modern papacy." Since the year 1861, the Holy Father notes, L'Osservatore Romano "has made known the teachings of the Roman Pontiffs and the contributions of their closest collaborators concerning the crucial problems humanity encounters on its journey."
Throughout the 20th century the publication of various language editions ensured the newspaper "had a truly international circulation" and gave it "a world dimension which ... is extremely important in truly expressing the reality of the Universal Church and the communion of all the local Churches, ... in a context of sincere friendship towards the women and men of our time.
"Seeking and creating opportunities for encounter," the Pope adds, "L'Osservatore Romano will be able to serve the Holy See ever more effectively, demonstrating the fecundity of the meeting between faith and reason, thanks to which cordial collaboration between believers and non- believers becomes possible."
The newspaper's fundamental task, the Holy Father concludes, "obviously remains that of favoring, in the cultures of our time, a trusting and at the same time profoundly reasonable openness to the Transcendent, upon which, in the final instance, rests respect for the dignity and the authentic freedom of each human being."
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Consistory for creating new cardinals scheduled
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10822)
VATICAN CITY, October 29 (CNA) - The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff officially announced today the schedule for the consistory at which Pope Benedict XVI will create the 23 new cardinals.
The celebration will take place in St. Peter's Square at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday, November 24. Courtesy visits to the new cardinals will take place on the same day from 4.30 to 6.30 p.m.
The following day, November 25, Pope Benedict XVI will also preside at a Eucharistic concelebration with the new cardinals at 10:30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square. During that Mass he will give them their ring of office.
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Brazil urgently needs political reform, says head of bishops' conference
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10821)
BRASILIA, October 29 (CNA) - The president of the Bishops' Conference of Brazil, Archbishop Geraldo Lyrio Rocha, said this week the country is passing through a time of "grave institutional crisis" and that therefore "profound political reform" is needed.
In noting that "corruption erodes democracy," the bishop mentioned the recent scandal involving Senate leader Renan Calheiros, who is of the same party as President Lula and who resigned over corruption charges. Archbishop Rocha called it one of the "darkest" episodes in Brazilian politics.
"The impression that is given is that corruption is common in public life, and that creates a climate of frustration and ethical relativism, which extends to social relationships and to private life," the archbishop stated.
He said the public is increasingly outraged over the "lack of respect for fundamental values" and that corruption is undermining the public trust in democracy.
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Church in Brazil reiterates desire to host WYD
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10820)
SAO PAULO, October 29 (CNA) - The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil has reiterated its desire to host the next World Youth Day after Sydney 2008. The bishops made their initial request to host the event during Pope Benedict XVI's recent visit to Brazil.
Brazil is competing with Spain, Great Britain and other countries to host the next WYD, said Bishop Geraldo Lyrio Rocha, according to the Associated Press. He said the bishops asked the Holy Father to be considered when he visited Brazil for the 5th General Conference of the Latin American Bishops' Council.
He noted that the announcement of the location of the next WYD is usually made during the celebration of the one prior, and for this reason they will wait until next July to receive a response.
Among the Brazilians cities that could host the event are Bello Horizonte in southeastern Brazil, and Rio de Janeiro.
WYD is held every three years. The last gathering took place in Cologne, Germany in 2005. The Australian city of Sydney is preparing to host the event in 2008.
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New archbishop installed in Russia
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10819)
MOSCOW, October 29 (CNA) - Archbishop Paolo Pezzi took office in Moscow on Saturday as head of the Catholic diocese of European Russia, Itar-tass reports.
The Italian-born former head of the Catholic seminary in St. Petersburg, Bishop Pezzi succeeds Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewic, who led the installation Mass. Pope Benedict XVI has reassigned Archbishop Kondrusiewic to his native Belarus. Russian-speaking Catholics were upset that the former archbishop was transferred without their consultation.
The newly installed Archbishop Pezzi was greeted by Russian Orthodox Church priests. The deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate's external relations department, archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, read a message of greetings from Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.
Four Catholic dioceses were created in Russia by the Pope in 2004. Relations with the Russian Orthodox Church are sometimes strained by Orthodox accusations of Catholic proselytizing.
Archbishop Pezzi's diocese is centered in Moscow and extends across the west European part of Russia from Kalingrand and St. Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod.
The Russian Justice Ministry reports that there are 220 Catholic parishes registered in Russia, not including Franciscan and Jesuit structures. Catholic services take place in 13 languages, and a Catholic Encyclopedia in Russian is in development.
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Woman faces execution for murdering mother, kidnapping unborn child
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10818)
KANSAS CITY, October 29 (CNA) - A Jury on Friday recommended the death penalty in the case of a woman who killed an expectant mother and cut the baby from her womb, the Associated Press reports.
Jurors deliberated for more than five hours before recommending the sentence for Lisa Montgomery. A judge will sentence Montgomery, but he is obligated to follow the jury's recommendation.
Montgomery, 39, was convicted on Monday of kidnapping and killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett on December 16, 2004 in the town of Skidmore. The next day Montgomery was presenting the newborn child as her own before her arrest later in the day.
Prosecutors argued for the death penalty because of the violence of her crime and evidence it was premeditated. Montgomery had made internet searches on performing caesarean sections.
Defense attorney Fred Duchardt claimed childhood sexual abuse caused Montgomery to become mentally ill. He said emotional abuse from her mother and sexual abuse from her stepfather "killed Lisa's soul."
"I'm not ashamed to ask you all for mercy," Duchardt told the jury. "I ask for it on behalf of Lisa and all the people who love her."
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Priest with secret marriage pleas guilty to half-million-dollar embezzlement
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10816)
RICHMOND, October 29 (CNA) - A retired Roman Catholic priest faces forty years in jail for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from two rural Virginian parishes, the Associated Press reports.
On Friday Father Rodney L. Rodis, 51, pled guilty to one count of mail fraud and one of money laundering.
Father Rodis embezzled money from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bumpass and St. Jude Church in Mineral between 2002 and 2006, prosecutors said. He wired at least $515,231 to relatives in his native Philippines to purchase property.
Authorities said Father Rodis established bank accounts and a post office box, directing parishioners to mail contributions to them. He then transferred the money to his personal account.
Father Rodis also used the funds to support his family, which included a spouse and three children. He concealed them by living fifty miles away from his parishes.
"I wanted to hear Rodney Rodis admit his guilt," said William Hynes, who attends St. Jude. "And I wanted to see justice done."
The Diocese of Richmond said that Father Rodis embezzled more than $600,000 from the churches he led between 1993 and 2006. Under a plea agreement, he has agreed to repay at least $400,000.
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Future cardinals thank Holy Father for remembering Africa
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10817)
ROME, October 29 (CNA) - Archbishops Theodore Adrien Sarr of Dakar (Senegal) and John Njue of Nairobi (Kenya) thanked Pope Benedict XVI for naming them to the college of cardinals, saying the appointment has caused much joy in their home countries, not only among Catholics but among the entire populace.
Archbishop Sarr, who is also president of the Bishops' Conference of Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Cabo Verde, said he received his appointment with humility as "a call, a duty to serve the Lord more and better." He renewed his commitment to foster inter-religious dialogue in his country and said he hopes his appointment would "contribute to promoting Christian-Muslim dialogue in Senegal and abroad."
Archbishop Njue said he was "shocked" to learn of the news and that he has accepted that he will "humbly and diligently serve the Church." "I never expected all this, but I accept the call," he added, saying his "move to Nairobi and elevation to the college of cardinals are difficult decisions but I accept them."
The news of Archbishop Njue's appointment was met with much joy in Kenya and received extensive media coverage. In a letter to the archbishop, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya said: "My wife Lucy and I offer you our support with our prayer. May the Lord bless you at this moment in which you receive such an important task of offering spiritual guidance to the Catholic faithful."
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Love letter from prison proof of martyrdom of Spanish youth
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10815)
MADRID, October 29 (CNA) - Bartolome Blanco Marquez is one of the youngest of the group of 498 martyrs beatified by Pope Benedict XVI this past Sunday at the Vatican. A committed Catholic, the 22 year-old layman wrote a moving letter to his girlfriend Maruja just hours before his death.
"Your memory will go with me to the tomb, and as long as my heart is beating, it will beat with love for you," he told Maruja. "God has desired to exalt these earthly affections, ennobling them when we love each other in Him."
Therefore, although in my last days God is my light and my longing, this does not keep the memory of the person I most love from accompanying me until the hour of my death," he wrote in his letter.
His story
Bartolome was born in Pozoblanco on November 25, 1914. orphaned as a child, he was raised by his aunt and uncle and worked as a chair maker. He was an outstanding student at the Salesian school of Pozoblanco and also helped out as a catechist. At the age of 18 he was elected secretary of a youth division of Catholic Action in Pozoblanco.
He was imprisoned in that city on August 18, 1936, when he was on leave from military service. On September 24 he was moved to a prison in Jaen, where he was held with fifteen priests and other laymen. There he was judged, condemned to death and shot on October 2, 1936.
During his trial, Bartolome remained true to his faith and his religious convictions. He did not protest his death sentence and told the court that if he lived he would continue being an active Catholic.
The letters he wrote on the eve of his death to his family and to his girlfriend Maruja show his profound faith.
"May this be my last will: forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness; but indulgence, which I wish to be accompanied by doing them as much good as possible. Therefore, I ask you to avenge me with the vengeance of a Christian: returning much good to those that have tried to do me evil," he wrote to his relatives.
On the day of his execution he left his cell barefoot, in order to be more conformed to Christ. He kissed his handcuffs, surprising the guards that cuffed him. He refused to be shot from behind. "Whoever dies for Christ should do so facing forward and standing straight. Long live Christ the King!" he shouted as he fell to ground under a shower of bullets.
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Rio de Janeiro governor promotes legalization of abortion to reduce number of criminals
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10814)
RIO DE JANEIRO, October 29 (CNA) - The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, has proposed legalizing abortion as means for reducing the number of criminals in the country.
Cabral caused a firestorm when he told the G1 news website, "It is an issue that unfortunately is not discussed because of a lack of courage. The issue of the termination of pregnancies has everything to do with public violence," he said.He argued that the prohibition against abortion directly causes more violence because those with higher incomes have fewer children, while the poor have more children.
"All you have to do is compare the number of children per mother in Lago, Tijuca, Meier and Copacabana (middle and upper class neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro), where incomes are similar to those in Sweden, with that of Rocinha (the largest poor area of the city), where incomes are at the same levels as Zambia and Gabon. This is a factory for producing marginalized people," Cabral said.
"To not offer something in the public system for these (poor) girls to terminate their pregnancies is crazy," Cabral stated, adding that although he is Catholic, he considers it "backward" that abortion is not legal in Brazil.
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Ecuador: new constitution and religious freedom
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10812)
VATICAN CITY, October 29 (CNA) - Today in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received the Letters of Credence of Fausto Cordovez Chiriboga, the new ambassador of the Republic of Ecuador to the Holy See.
After remarking how "new scenarios of freedom and hope," are "often overturned by unstable political situations and as a consequence of weak social structures," the Holy Father affirmed "the urgent necessity to work towards building an internal and international order that promotes peaceful coexistence, cooperation and respect for human rights, and the recognition, above all, of the central position of the individual and his inviolable dignity."
Faced with the fact that "many Ecuadorians emigrate to other countries in difficult circumstances, seeking a better future for themselves and their families," it must not be forgotten, said the Pope, "that love - caritas - will always be necessary even in the fairest of societies. No State order, however just it may be, can render superfluous the service of love. ... Indeed it is charity, the generous giving of self to others, that has generated and continues to generate those activities of education, assistance, promotion and development which so honor the Church and Ecuadorian society."
"Through her pastoral ministry the Catholic Church ... makes an important contribution to the overall good of the country," said the Holy Father. "Hence the need to promote and strengthen the margin of freedom which she is recognized as having in the law and constitution of Ecuador. Hence also, it is to be hoped that the new constitution will provide ample guarantees for the religious freedom of the Ecuadorian people, so that the nation may have a legal framework which ... conforms to its context and to international agreements."
The Pope emphasized that "the Church's freedom of action, apart from being an alienable right, is a primordial condition for her to carry out her mission among people, sometimes in difficult circumstances. For this reason," he went on quoting his own Encyclical "Deus caritas est," "we do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need.
"There can, indeed, be no other aspiration for a democratic government committed to fomenting a culture of respect and equality before the law, and to the exemplary exercise of an authority which aims to serve all its people. Hence, the government of Ecuador has expressed its firm will to make a priority of tending to the most needy, drawing inspiration from the Church's social doctrine."
The Holy Father concluded by expressing the hope that Ecuador's "citizens may enjoy all their rights, together with their corresponding obligations, achieving better living conditions and easier access to a proper home and to a job, to education and healthcare, in full respect for life from conception to natural end."
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Statistician refutes Planned Parenthood report
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10807)
COLLEGE STATION, TX, October 29 (CNA) - In a report issued on October 11, 2007 by the Guttmacher Institute (the research arm of Planned Parenthood) and the World Health Organization (WHO), researchers emphasized the numbers of "unsafe abortions" in developing countries that do not have restrictive abortion policies. The researchers concluded that in order to achieve more "safe abortions", governmental policies should continue to be loosened to provide access to them. However, statistician Keith Schumann explains that Planned Parenthood and the World Health Organization use weak or non-existent data to support a conclusion that cannot be found in the numbers.
These findings are consistent with reports from Steven W. Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, who accused abortion legalization advocates of "deliberately exaggerating the magnitude of the problem in order to create a 'health crisis' to justify legalizing abortion-on-demand" as reported by CNA in early October.
Dr. Keith Schumann, a Ph.D. statistician from College Station, Texas, examined the research reported in the study and found several problems behind the numbers that Guttmacher and the WHO released. Dr. Schumann said, "I cannot make any conclusion on the accuracy or precision of the numbers they report. There are numerous assumptions made in their methodology that can severely sway the final outcome. In other words, the numbers in the report contain such potentially large margins of error and so many problems with the underlying data that were cobbled together that few, if any, conclusions can accurately be made."
Dr. Schumann was unable to recreate the results of the report based on the information that he examined. The data is pulled from multiple sources and in some cases, guesses made by the researchers. Schumann called the assumptions built upon the data "troubling" and it seemed the data itself was said to be "pulled from the air" in some cases.
Some of the more telling numbers reported by the Guttmacher Institute included a 100% "safe abortion" rate for parts of Asia that include China and North Korea. Therefore, even forced abortions, by the totalitarian governments of these Communist countries, fall under the definition of "safe abortions". Also, the data used in several parts of the world was very limited and in other locations and/or dates non-existent. Therefore, the researchers "corrected" the data to show what they called "under-reporting". This included an average correction inflation of 140% per country, including correction inflation for Bangladesh of 300%. For countries where abortions are illegal, the total number of abortions was estimated, then inflated, and then all of these were considered unsafe.
The problems with the report were not reflected in a statement given by Dr. Sharon Camp, Guttmacher president and CEO. She stated that the first step in making abortion safer was to ensure that the procedure was done by capable persons in good conditions. In addressing the policies of countries that restrict abortion, Camp states, "It's high time for policymakers worldwide to renew their commitment to women's health by addressing these crucial issues".
When asked what he might conclude about the methodology used in this report, Dr. Schumann concluded that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to get accurate numbers, "We can't even get an accurate number of abortions locally, aside from what Planned Parenthood self-reports. I don't understand how we can then get accurate numbers from a worldwide perspective."
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Prime Minister of Iceland meets with Vatican officials
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10809)
VATICAN CITY, October 28 (CNA) - Friday morning, Pope Benedict received Geir H. Haarde in audience. Prime Minister Haarde met with Cardinal Bertone and the secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.
During the discussion, "the mutual respect and esteem marking relations between Iceland and the Catholic Church were noted, as was the contribution the Church makes to society, especially in the educational and social fields."
They also discussed international issues "highlighting the need for an ever greater commitment on the part of the international community to promote peace, fight against poverty, and favor environmental protection."
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Do not become attracted by a permissive consumer society, Pope Benedict warns people of Gabon
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10808)
VATICAN CITY, October 26 (CNA) - Today the Holy Father received the bishops from the central African country of Gabon as they completed their "ad limina" visit. The Pope told the African bishops that they must be careful that their faithful do not "let themselves be attracted by the consumerist permissive society, paying less attention to the poorest people of their country."
At the beginning of his address to them, the Pope noted how the people of Gabon "sometimes let themselves be attracted by the consumerist permissive society, paying less attention to the poorest people of their country. I encourage them to increase fraternal sentiment and solidarity. Furthermore, a certain relaxation has been noted in the lives of Christians, taken in by the attractions of the world. It is my hope that their conduct becomes ever more exemplary in terms of spiritual and moral values."
Benedict XVI identified one of the most vital tasks of the Church in Gabon as "transmitting the faith and acquiring a deeper knowledge of the Christian mystery. In order to meet the challenges they face, the faithful need a thorough formation that enables them to found their Christian life upon clear principles."
In this way "ecclesial communities will be more vibrant and the faithful will draw strength from the liturgy and from individual, family and community prayer, so that, in all fields of social life, they become witnesses of the Good News and workers for reconciliation, justice and peace in this world of ours which needs these things more than ever."
The Pope emphasized the need to pay particular attention to the youth of Gabon. In this context, he expressed the hope that the young may become "the first evangelizers of their peers. Many times, through friendship and sharing, people come to discover the person of Christ and to join themselves to Him."
After then dwelling on the bishop's concern over the low numbers of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, the Holy Father noted that "the seminary in Libreville must be watched over with particular care because the future of evangelization and of the Church are at stake." This, he said, " will not cease to be a stimulus so that, in each diocese, pastoral care of vocations develops and intensifies."
The Holy Father encouraged priests and religious, and their families, to "mobilize themselves through prayer, attention to the youngest and a concern for transmitting the call of Christ, so that the vocations your country needs may arise and spread." Nor can we forget," he continued, "the role of Catholic education, in which teachers and educators have the mission of the integral education of the young. This task requires witness to and transmission of the faith, as well as attention to vocations."
With reference to priests, the Pope stressed that, "living in constant intimacy with Christ, they will have a sharper awareness of the need to remain faithful to the commitments made before God and the Church, especially ... chastity and celibacy. In this way, they will experience their priestly ministry ever more as a service to the faithful."
"They will find spiritual support in the brotherhood of priests, comforted by you who are father and brother to them," he told the bishops. "Thus, together, you will be able to implement joint pastoral projects that give fresh impetus to the mission. I encourage each priest to seek ... the good of the Church and not personal advantage, conforming his life and mission to the gesture of the washing of the feet. From such love, lived as disinterested service, profound joy will arise."
(END)
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